The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is finally cheaper than getting a phone and tablet separately — here’s why you want to buy it
SOURCE:TechRadar|BY: Philip Berne
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has dropped in price, making it cheaper than buying a phone and a tablet separately. Here's why you'd want a foldable instead of two separate screens.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 was arguably the best phone of 2025, and it’s truly an engineering marvel. It feels impossibly thin and light, especially when it’s closed, and you know that you’re holding a full-sized mini tablet, even though it feels like a normal big-screen smartphone. The biggest problem - maybe the only big problem - was the price. Thankfully, deals like today’s sale on Samsung.com finally drop the Z Fold to a price that makes perfect sense.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is on sale right now on Samsung.com with a $400 discount in the US, even if you don’t have a phone to trade. There are huge trade bonuses happening as well, if you have the right phone. In the US, a Galaxy S25 Ultra or Galaxy Z Fold 6 will earn you $1,000 in trade (instead of that $400 discount). In Australia, an iPhone 16 Pro Max will drop the price of a new Fold 7 by AU$1,000.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Samsung doesn’t currently make a premium 8-inch tablet, so the Apple iPad mini (2024) is the best 8-inch tablet to consider. The iPad mini costs $499 / £499 / AU$799 for the latest model. Put that price together with a Galaxy S25 Edge, and you’re paying $1,598 / £1,598 / AU$2,648 for both devices.
Why would you want a Galaxy Z Fold 7 instead of just buying a fancy new smartphone and a mini tablet together? That’s a great question! Here are four reasons why I’d prefer a foldable (and one big reason why not):
My Galaxy Z Fold 7 is always connected, unlike my iPad mini
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
To be fair, you can get an iPad mini for $499 / £499 / AU$799, but you’ll need a Wi-Fi connection to make it surf. You can use your phone as a hotspot, but when your phone is also a tablet - like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 - you don’t need to burn through your data allotment or battery power to connect a second device. Your tablet is your phone, so it’s always connected.
This also means you won’t have to worry about sharing files between devices. If you want to edit a document on a larger display, or even open a web page on your tablet instead of your phone, you don’t have to perform any magic tricks between screens. You just open the small screen, and it becomes a tablet.
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The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is more durable than any small tablet
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
You might not think of foldable phones as durable, but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the most durable mini tablets you can buy. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is water-resistant enough that you can dunk it in a pool or read your email in a bathtub.
There is no iPad you can buy with the same level of durability. Samsung makes water-resistant tablets (that are also more dust-proof), but only the larger Galaxy Tab S11 and Galaxy Tab S10 FE models.
You still have to worry about dust and small particles, so a trip to the sandy beach will require some care. Still, it’s impressive that Samsung’s foldable tablet has better ingress protection than Apple’s most portable iPad.
Samsung’s software is (shockingly) the best for multitasking
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Samsung’s software doesn’t get the same accolades as Apple’s iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, but Samsung’s tablet software is the best you’ll find on any tablet - including the iPad. Samsung has done a great job making it easy to open multiple windows, to snap windows where you want them, and to move content between windows and apps.
Multitasking on a Samsung tablet is better than multitasking on any iPad, and it’s even better than multitasking on a Mac desktop with Apple’s macOS 26.
That makes the Galaxy Z Fold 7 a fantastic tablet for productivity and getting things done, much better than an iPad mini. Samsung’s version of Android is packed with useful tools and features, while Apple’s iPadOS tends to get out of the way and let app developers do the heavy lifting in the apps you buy and download.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has better cameras than any tablet
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Samsung has been using a big 200MP sensor on its best camera phones for a few years, and this year it figured out how to pack that beefy component into its thinnest phones. Both the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the thin Galaxy S25 Edge got the same camera module as the mighty Galaxy S25 Ultra, instantly vaulting those devices to the front of the class for camera image quality.
That means the Galaxy Z Fold 7 isn’t just the best foldable camera phone you can buy; it also packs a better camera than you’ll find on any tablet, especially an iPad mini. The iPad mini uses a single 12MP rear camera sensor. The photos it captures don’t match what you’ll get from a Z Fold 7.
Best of all, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 uses its cameras in versatile ways. You can take photos with the phone open or closed, using either the smaller or larger display as your viewfinder. You can use the hinge and fold to aim that camera at yourself and see yourself in the outer display, making it a 200MP selfie camera. There’s really no contest; the Galaxy Z Fold 7 blows away the iPad mini in camera capabilities, whether it’s open or closed.
Why would you want two separate devices? Two big (battery) reasons
(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)
Having two big batteries in a separate iPad mini and Galaxy smartphone is better than… well, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 technically has two batteries, but they amount to a smaller total capacity than what you’d get in two devices.
It’s not even close. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has two cells that offer 4,400mAh of total battery power. The iPad mini alone has a battery that is larger than 5,000 mAh. In our battery tests, the iPad mini and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 offered almost the same amount of screen time - just under 11 hours for both. Still, if you carry an iPad plus a phone, you get all that battery life and more.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 still lasts through a normal day of use, but what’s normal for a phone and tablet combo? If you really need to use both screens all day, and you rely on your devices to get work done, I would recommend buying the two separately to maximize your battery.
Otherwise, it’s easier than ever to make a case for foldable phones. The price has finally dropped to a level that gives you more at once than you’d get buying a phone and a tablet separately.
Starting more than 20 years ago at eTown.com. Philip Berne has written for Engadget, The Verge, PC Mag, Digital Trends, Slashgear, TechRadar, AndroidCentral, and was Editor-in-Chief of the sadly-defunct infoSync. Phil holds an entirely useful M.A. in Cultural Theory from Carnegie Mellon University. He sang in numerous college a cappella groups.
Phil did a stint at Samsung Mobile, leading reviews for the PR team and writing crisis communications until he left in 2017. He worked at an Apple Store near Boston, MA, at the height of iPod popularity. Phil is certified in Google AI Essentials. His passion is the democratizing power of mobile technology. Before AI came along he was totally sure the next big thing would be something we wear on our faces.
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